Remember Battlefield 1942? Ever wonder what that would be like in next gen? Well I have good news then, they are making a game called Battlefield 1943 which will basically be like 1942 but with some modern touch ups. First of all, its an Xbox Live Arcade and PSN title(PC as well), so don't expect a plethora of maps(there are just 3 which include Wake Island, Guadalcanal, and Iwo Jima) but do expect some major face lifts. First off, from the looks of things this game will play like bad company since it runs off of the Frostbite Engine which allows for destructable environments, but will maintain the same vehicles and weaponry as the old game. It might even have unlockable weapons hopefully, instead of having weapons based on the map but that is only a guess, and a hope considering 3 maps wouldn't hold too much weapon variety. Second is that the graphics are getting a major upgrade and it looks fucking beautiful. Other then these changes, it will more or less play like Battlefield 1942 only now it is available on PS3 and Xbox360 as well as PC. There is little details and only a video to show what this game will look like or play like, but I will try to update the topic as more info comes. For now, here is the first trailer:
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/45144.html
Update1: http://www.battlefield1943.com/ there actually is a website, more details can be found there. Shame its 24 players but I will put that aside me.
Update2: Gamespot got their hands on with Battlefeild 1943:

There's a tangible buzz in the air at DICE's Stockholm headquarters. It's indicative of a studio hard at work, which is not surprising, given the number of unannounced games that the company must be working on right now. So it's with some sense of relief that producers Patrick Liu and Gordon Van Dyke are finally able to talk about their own project, which will be the latest game in the beloved Battlefield series. Named Battlefield 1943, the game will be a download-only game for Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, and PC.

Our demo began with the same trailer that you can see alongside this preview. It proudly announces that Battlefield 1943 will use the Frostbite engine--the same one that powered the destructible environments in Bad Company--after which it shows off the land-, sea-, and air-based combat that should be more familiar to players of Battlefield 1942. The message seems to be that this is classic Battlefield multiplayer updated with cutting-edge technology, a thought that's only reinforced by the inclusion of the Wake Island map from Battlefield 1942. Van Dyke explains that 1943 will have more in common with Bad Company in terms of gameplay, but with all of the things that made 1942 great. That includes a heavy focus on vehicular combat, as well as the obvious similarities in historical setting.

After the trailer, the conversation naturally turned to the game's download-based delivery. It's a topic that the team is excited to talk about, while simultaneously being keen to gauge our opinion on. "We want Battlefield 1943 to be the premium downloadable game on consoles," Van Dyke said. With a technologically advanced engine powering a new entry in a proven franchise, that shouldn't be too much of a problem, but at what cost? "We're not talking about that just yet," he conceded, "but think premium pricing along the lines of something like Braid." Even more surprising, the team said that the game will weigh in as a paltry 350MB download, at least on Xbox Live.

As for the game itself, the maximum number of online players will be 24, and you'll be able to play as both the US Marines and the Japanese Imperial Army. The lack of bot support is a small niggle for those who wish to practice, but that doesn't stop it from being newbie-friendly; you'll be able to level up your character and show your experience to others, but it won't afford you extra weapons or abilities. Battlefield 1943 will offer the Conquest game mode only, which means that you have to capture and control five points on the map to win the game, with capture points offering you and your team new points from which to respawn. As for maps, Liu and Van Dyke talked about the aforementioned Wake Island, as well as Iwo Jima and Guadalcanal.

Once we'd gone through the stats with the producers, they offered us the chance to play against DICE employees through two matches on the Wake Island map. Battlefield stalwarts will immediately recognise the boomerang-shaped layout of the map, with two aircraft carriers located off of each tip. We started the game on one of these carriers and immediately ran toward one of the aircraft. Piloting the plane was initially a bit tricky but quickly became intuitive; the right trigger is used to accelerate and the right analogue stick changes your pitch and roll. These aircraft are equipped with machine guns and rockets, and the Frostbite engine lets you topple entire buildings through judicious use of the latter.

Our experience with the new game was punctuated by some incredible standout moments. Playing as the Japanese side, we were able to melee-kill someone using a samurai sword, a bizarre but highly entertaining weapon. There were times when airplanes blasted overhead, toppling the buildings around us but miraculously missing us entirely. But our favourite moment was jumping into an air-raid shelter, which provided temporary cover against the enemy while we piloted a formation of aircraft to bomb a target. You have to time the bombing run just right to hit your target--which we failed to do on our one and only go--but with the right skill, these shelters should have the ability to turn the course of games.

Even at this early stage, Battlefield 1943 is incredibly fun to play. It possesses all of the hallmarks of a great Battlefield game, and the Frostbite engine offers the graphics that you'd expect in a full retail release. If you're interested in playing the game and you're in the New York area this weekend, then head to Comic-Con, where the team will be giving hands-on demos on February 6, 7, and 8. With the game in pre-alpha already, we're hoping to see a lot more of it in the coming months, so keep your radar tracked to GameSpot for more info as we get it.

That's actually sort of cool. I had a ton of fun with the BF1942 demo OH SO LONG AGo and that was just Wake Island. I remember how fun it was just to take a plane and do bombing runs of the enemy ships and stuff. Could be a lot of fun for a cheap little Arcade title!

I still play 1942, its still is a lot of fun and it is my favorite in the franchise(Nam' and 2142 tied at 2nd best). I cannot wait for this, its got 2 of my favorite maps(Guadalcanal being questionable).

Well, when I played this I had a low-end comp and connection so it wasn't really all that fun for me because in order to get the most out of this you need at least 32 players on a map and that was too much for my hardware back then.

It was a lot of fun to play with friends though, one guy took the plane while others tried to crouch on the wings and hold on while firing bazookas at enemies.

There was a lot of stupid shit there too though, like when you had a tank your biggest concern wasn't enemy tanks but jeeps because jeeps could kill anything by ramming into stuff. Well jeeps and also the occasional jihad planes.

One of the gayest things was spawn camping though because while in other games its still cheap but somewhat counterable whereas here you spawned and a tank camped the spawn or planes kept bombing the spawn area without a pause.

Thats the main problem I found mainly with Wake Island, but that is only because that map is not made for 64 people, it would be way too chaotic. By the way, i made an update(look above).

wasn't there an expansion pack that added germany's experimental jet planes and rocket packs?

will all of those weird ass vehicles be in here?

probably not, the maps included aren't from any expansions

That Wake Island map looks sick. It's like Wake Island in BF2 except so much more graphical!

Definitely getting this.

WI was in BF2?! I dont own that BF but that is badass 

I still play 2142 Weekly.... proud member of TacticalGamers, and yeah Wake Island has appeared in pretty much every BF.

I heard BF1943  will only support 22 Multiplayer

EDIT: ohh first post mentions 24 players

I know I read somewhere the game is basically being dumbed down. Only 3 classes that are made to be able to take on any situation (medics and heavy weapons are apparently gone) and auto-regenerating health.

Sounds very Halo-ish to me.

I just hope I was being lied to.

I added another update, gamespot got their hands on with this game.

I know I read somewhere the game is basically being dumbed down. Only 3 classes that are made to be able to take on any situation (medics and heavy weapons are apparently gone) and auto-regenerating health.

Sounds very Halo-ish to me.

I just hope I was being lied to.

Can't say, all DICE said was that you don't need to level up to gain new weapons as there will be multiple weapon packs. They didn't say specifically how many classes there would be though.
Edit: Yes there is 3 classes, each have 2 uses though. The Rifleman specializes in Long Range and....anti something (button commands are blocking his uses in the video), Infantry specializes in short-medium range and anti tank, and the scout specializes in sniping and demolitions. So technically, the took the other classes and put them together to make 3 classes each with 3 weapons kits. Now that may sound odd, but I think that is kind of convenient now that you don't have like 5 classes, each with one use(or none at all, damn assault class in 1942 D:<) so choosing is much easier now. Here is a cam video from Comic Con: http://www.gametrailers.com/player/45234.html it shows game play as well and it looks pretty good, but for some reason it looks cartoony.

Bad Company wasn't bad though, it was just more story driven(and pretty funny too) and the multiplayer was solid.